Saturday, June 27, 2015

In
2004 LEGO released the LEGO Racers #8652 – ENZO FERRARIand theLEGO Racers
#8671 – FERRARI 430SPIDER in 2006. In
2014 LEGO created a model #10242 of the classic economy car the MINI Cooper Mk VII. All three models are beautiful
replicas, however my students, Brandon and Luc, thought it would be really cool
if they were “motorized.” So they took the models apart re-designed them to
mooooove…

Mini Cooper

Brandon
describes how he motorized the Mini Cooper. I built the LEGO®, MINI Cooper model #10242 kit, then I had to take it apart
and redesign it a little to mototize it, because I needed to fit the LEGO®Power Functions (PF) into the car. The
LEGO®Power Functions parts included one
M-Motor, one IR Receiver, one IR-TX Remote, and a rechargeable battery box. I had to raise the base of the car to accommodate the
motor and the wheels. Then I replaced the back seats with a PF rechargeable
battery box and also replaced the engine block with a PF IR receiver. The car
was too small to fit two motors in it, so I put the differential gear under the car and
for the motor to power the drive wheels with a long axle. With just one motor
the car can only move forward and backward.

Ferrari

Luc designed the Ferrai. I
used both the
LEGO
Racers #8652 – ENZO FERRARI and the LEGO Racers #8671 – FERRARI 430 SPIDER
models, to create a motorized LEGO Ferrari design. To do this I had to add two Power
Function M-Motors, an Infrared Sensor, and a Battery Box to the car. On one
side I use gears, so the motors will go in the same way. By using two motors
the car would be able to turn. To move the car I used the Power Function
remote.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Since the advent of the LEGO® Mindstorms® EV3, manuals about
how to build with it and program its robots have appeared in eBooks and printed
books. A few are rewrites of previous Mindstorrms NXT books adapted to the new
EV3 kit. Then there are a few written from a new perspective and in some cases
a little more detail, which is definitely more helpful to the novice Mindstorms
builder. Learning LEGO Mindstorms EV3 by Gary Garber, Packt Publishing 2015, is one of those books.

I must say the author has touched on just about everything you might what to know about learning the EV3 system. There are easy explanations and lots of diagrams. So let’s take a look at some of the topics Garber covers…

A nice feature about
this book is that for each chapter there is a brief introductory statement and
bullet list of what is being covered in that chapter. So if you are one of
those folks (like myself) who does not read a manual from the beginning, you can
check out the beginning of each chapter to see if it has the information you
are looking for; thank you very much…

Another nice feature
of this book is that the author addresses both the Home and Educational
editions of the MIndstorms EV3 kits. Other EV3 books mostly focused on one edition of the kit or the other. In the discussion of
Drive Train and Chassiss, chapter 3, examples for a basic vehicle (the author
refers to them as a chassis, but to me a chassis is a very basic framework to
which wheels, sensors, wires, and other parts will be added to make a working
vehicle/robot) is given for both the Home and Educational editions of the EV3.

Something I have been doing for years when teaching robotics is to
have my students maintain an Engineers Notebook; I actually keep on myself when
building LEGO Technic® and robots. Now, the EV3 has an Engineer’s Notebook (the
Content Editor) included in the software, wonderful! So I was happy to see that
the author has a discussion of the Content Editor. He actually devotes a whole
chapter on the features and use of the Content Editor, which is excellent.

The chapter on Mechanical Design is very good in that it
compares the two motors in the kit, the Large Motor and Medium Motor. It also
covers gearing, starting to write a program, and a brief discussion of using (data)
wires and parallel threads with nice pictures of examples. Garber mentions the
use of the Stop block and that it really is not required, which it not, but
when teaching Mindstorms programming to novices is a nice touch and a reference
point indicating the end of a program.

The chapter on Sensors covers all the different LEGO® sensors
found in both editions, as well as, third-party companies such as, HiTechnic, Mindsensors,
Dexter, Verner, etc., which is nice because it lets you know what sensors are
found in the two kits and the possibilities of other third-party sensors. Note,
only the Educational edition has programming blocks for all the EV3 sensors
that LEGO manufactures, including the Energy Meter, Temperature sensor, NXT
Sound sensor, and Bluetooth Messaging, but the author does not discuss the
programming of these – sigh.

Moving from the basic introductory aspects of the EV3,
chapter 5 covers Interacting with EV3; brick buttons, IR remote/beacon, bluetooth with a smartphone ( a
later chapter discusses bluetooth communication between robots), Wi-fi
communication, and intermediate programming. After covering image displays,
brick lights, and sound output, the author introduces the reader to some
advanced programming, data logging, and other programming languages for the
EV3. And if you are interested in using the Gyro sensor, there is a chapter on
the LEGO Gyro Boy and its programming.

Mr. Garber is a teacher, he teachers Physics and
Engineering, and perhaps he is directing this book to teachers and
instructors of Mindstorms robotics and not just the hobbits. This book takes
you past the “tutorials” of the LEGO Mindstorms software and accompanying, but
limited manual. It helps the teacher/instructor of EV3 robotics understand the
system and offers ideas for teaching it. If you purchased the printed book from
Packt Publishing, you will have an account, which allows you to download, for
free, example code files from the book. If you purchased the book elsewhere
(for example Amazon) you can contact: http://www.packtpub.com/support and
register to have the files email to you.

Note: On software compatibility, the author states, “As a
caution, in version 1.1.0 of the LEGO MINDSTORMS software, Bluetooth
communication for the EV3 brick is not compatible with newer versions of Mac OS
X.” However, updates have remedy most of the problems except those using Snow
Leopard for Mac OS X will experience problems in connecting to Bluetooth. Those
with Maverick or above seem to have no problem with either the Home or
Educational editions connecting to Bluetooth.

STEM to STEAM

Not to long ago the U.S. educational system realized it was lagging in the areas of math, and science. So STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Math became the new focus in education in an attempt to improve the quality of these subjects, get students interested in these subjects so that we could inspire them to pursue careers in these areas. LEGO Technology and Mindstorms Robotics is a natural tool for teaching STEM.

Now there is a new movement emerging STEM + ART (and DESIGN) = STEAM. Well, you might be saying, “Oh no, not another buzz word.” However, if you think about, Art and Design can be found in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Art and Design can actually help improve on our innovations in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math in our quest to improve the quality of life and our future existence.

And of course, LEGO Technology, Mindstorms Robotics, and littleBits definitely fits in the STEAM objectives.

Learning Code

Inclusion!

Helping an urban community to learn technology!

This non-profit organization was created by one of my former middle school students & FIRST LEGO League team member of the Cyberbots.

Brics~2~Bots Curriculum

Why Brics~2~Bots?

It’s a challenge, it’s hands-on, it’s learning in action. John Dewey set forth the theory that we learn better by doing - we take the knowledge and apply it by building. With LeGology Technology, littleBits Electronics, & MINDSTORMS/TETRIX Robotics Engineering students learn by designing, building, & coding. The benefits of such a curriculum goes beyond the science concepts that can be learned, the math theories that can be explained, and literacy skills that are practiced through communication between students, reflective journals and design worksheets; students express their creativity & learn to problem solve together to reach a goal - creating and inventing “cool devices” capable of awesome tasks. LeGology Technology, littleBits Electronics, & Robotics Engineering (Brics~2~Bots) are great for a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Design, Math) program, because it touches on all these subjects.

To see some of the projects by students at Brics~2~Bots, type in "B2B Lab" in the Search This Blog in the sidebar.

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About Me

I have been involved with LEGO® & robotics since 2002. I was the coach of NYC-FLL championship teams: Techno-Eagles, roboGbots, NYCityzens, Dragonbotz, Vulcabotz, Optibotz & The Cyberbots (FLL & FTC). Currently, I am a part-time robotics consultant who sets up LEGO Technology & robotics programs, conducts NXT & EV3 robotics workshops for schools & various organizations (AMNH). I am the Director/Instructor of Brics~2~Bots; a mini LEGO center that supports the S.T.E.A.M. initiative providing individual & small group instruction to children, gifted to special needs. Training & mentoring for new FLL coaches is also available. I am un-shamefully an AFOLAR - Adult Fan Of LEGO And Robotics! ;-)